Taiwan’s Formosa Chem & Fibre keeps two Mailiao SM units shut

24 May 2011 07:29[Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Formosa Chemical & Fibre Corp’s (FCFC) 250,000 tonne/year No 1 and 350,000 tonne/year No 2 styrene monomer (SM) plants remain shut, following the recent fire at its petrochemical complex, a source close to the Taiwan-based producer said on Tuesday.

The outage at Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s (FPCC) 700,000 tonne/year No 1 cracker in Mailiao also resulted in the shutdown of FCFC’s No 1 aromatics unit, which can produce around 150,000 tonnes/year of benzene.

FCFC’s No 1 and No 2 SM units were consequently taken off line because of the disruption of feedstock from FPCC, said the source.

FCFC operates a separate 600,000 tonne/year No 3 SM plant at the same complex. The plant is running "normally", according to the source.

"The period of the shutdown is unknown as the authorities are investigating the incident," the source said.